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Flooring options and ROI

Superfly

Salty, defiant, and completely non-compliant.
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OK so I am planning on changing out my flooring. I have been complaining about it for years, and it's time I pull the trigger.

When I built my house, my builder put in builder grade carpet, and it's absolute ****. I want to change it out.

For this I need some advice.

I am going to do the downstairs only, for now. The bonus room is upstairs, away from the rest of the house, so it won't look separated and disjointed if we have two different kinds of flooring (which bugs me).

I am estimating about 1,900 sf downstairs.

I love carpet, but have a fat English bulldog. She's housebroken, but the oil from the pads on her feet cause the carpet to smell. I love carpet but I want something that will look cleaner.

I am not a tile person. I have ceramic tile in my wet rooms, but that's it. I hate the square tiles all over the house. Would rather stick with my crappy carpet.

I can't afford hardwood right now. I would love it, and prefer it, but it's so pricey.

I don't want laminate. I may sell the house in the next year or two, and I want a good ROI.

So I have been looking at the wood-look ceramic tile. It looks like hardwood, but has the durability of tile. But if you put in wood-look tile, can you bump it up against each other, or do you have to grout it? I don't want to grout it, because the whole purpose of getting it is so it will look like wood, and not tile.

Anybody here that is knowledgeable in this area?

Also, any realtors who can tell me what the best ROI is for flooring? I live in coastal Georgia, and lots of people have tile because of the sand, but I hate square tile.
 
It has to be grouted but you can lay 1/16th inch grout lines.
 

IMO, sell it now and buy a house with the flooring you want already in it.

I'm sort of in the same boat. I hate our floors, but I don't plan to live here forever. So, I can't justify the ROI benefit of dropping $10K plus on new floors. I'll sell, take $5K less on the negotiation and buy the house I really want.
 
You can find 24 x 12 inch tile. I have it in my house

Or you can go with wood look tile. A Courtyard Marriot hotel has it and it looks great and yes it needs to have grout.

If you want cheap, but durable Luxury Vinyl Plank tile. The look of wood, but should last a long time. Safeway's up here use it in certain parts of the store. Should not warp from moisture
 

I've thought of that, too - that or buying a fixer upper and putting in the floor then. Kids are grown and gone, don't need this big house anymore. And yeah, I thought about offering up a few grand for carpet allowance, and that way they can put in what they want. But I may not want to sell - I'm not sure. All I know is that I hate this carpet. I can clean and clean my house, and my carpet still makes me feel like the house is dirty.
 

I stayed in a Courtyard in New Orleans and the flooring was nice. But had grout. I hate grout. And I'd rather not go with vinyl. To me, that's a terrible waste of money and time. Practically zero ROI.
 
Check out bamboo flooring should be much cheaper than hard wood
 
Try dirt, it is cheap as dirt.
 
I actually wanted to do an acid stain on my concrete (that's what I would prefer to do) but it's so new down here, and extremely pricey.
 
I live in the tropics and the house I have currently have has tiles on the first floor and wood in the upper floors. When I get the next house built it will be tile all the way and I'll just buy rugs if I want to be fancy in the bedrooms. Tile flooring makes the rooms cooler in the heat than wood. I might go for polished concrete too- but I'm worried my kid might hurt himself if he falls flat on that kind of flooring.
 

If you are selling the house in a year or two, put in mid grade carpet and be done with it. BTW, if you are a veteran both Lowes and Home Depot give a 10%, and so do most other hardware chains. That's a lot of money on a carpet job.

I just got done eith carpet and tile and my wife and I are still married!

Have you looked at the new "Vinyl planking" -waterproof, warp proof. Also with tile, use epoxy grout, but make sure the top color "runs" down the sides a bit.

BTW, it's a great time to paint before the new flooring goes in!
 
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The fact that you are considering selling soon is a big factor so simply replacing the carpet will likely suffice for the year or two you stay and is way less expensive (enough to replace the carpet again immediately prior to sale?) since the tackless and padding (if its not too lightweight for your taste) is already in place and the door jambs and base trim need no attention either. Swapping out carpet should not be very expensive at all.

Going to hardwood or wood look tile will require undercutting door jambs and base trim modification (adding shoe molding at a minimum). That added installation cost could be substantial and may not be included in a "standard installation" cost quote. You did not say what was under the carpet. If it's a concrete slab then hardwood will require a plywood subfloor and moisture barrier to be added while the tile will not making the tile installation cost much lower than the hardwood.

This article seems to address most of your issues:

Hardwood flooring vs Tile Planks that look like hardwood. Pros and Cons. | The Flooring Girl
 
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I love that polished concrete finish. If more than one person here did it, it wouldn't be so expensive. As it is, the guy won't even return calls to set up appointments. That's the beachy lifestyle here, though. Nobody really wants to do anything. Everybody is on island time. So frustrating.
 

I have thought about mid-grade carpet. If we knew for a fact that we were moving pretty soon, we'd put new builder grade in and be done with it. But I don't want to put this **** back in here if we are going to be here for a while.

And I am actually doing touch up now on the paint. No rooms really need a new coat - just a few scuffs here and there.
 

Thanks for the link. Will read it tomorrow when I'm not so sleepy and my eyes don't feel like they are full of sand.

Regular padding under the carpet. Nothing fancy. We even thought about getting a better grade carpet and a nice, thick padding, but that might cause issues with the doors too.
 

I do this kind of work for a living so I often assume that folks know more about it than they do, Doors are not a big deal even if it means that they need a tad cut off the bottom edge for clearance (since they are removed and reinstalled regardless). What I meant was the door jambs and their casing trim (on either side of a door or passageway between rooms) - carpet simply butts (or tucks) up to them while hardwood or tile will go (slightly) under them which requires them to be undercut (at just the right height) for that to happen.

 
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Fully tiled houses suck. They are cold on the feet, hard feeling, and and not flexible enough to go with house movement. Laminates and actual HW are both flexible, feel softer and warmer.

You can lay hardwood laminates for the same price as tile or carpet depending on the products.

Laminates can be just as beautiful and more durable than actual hardwoods if you go with a decent product.

As a guy who does a lot of work for real estate agents, I know what makes a house pop to a potential buyer. Hardwood/laminate & tile are in. Carpets are blah blah blah.

Carpets suck period. Even the cleanest person who has a rug/pad pulled up can expect to find a 1/2 of a 5 gallon pail of dirt and other moldy particulates from a decent sized room. Hardwoods and laminates are easier to keep clean and are often recommended for homes with asthma and other respiratory ailments.
 

We were looking at tiles the other day and saw some rather handsome one in the form and look of wood. Maybe you would like that. Personally, I like the rough terracotta tiles. But then, I think the patina is fine. My wife hates it.
 
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